Futurama created by Matt Groening. Developed by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen. Owned by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. Used without permission.

Kim Possible created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle. Characters designed by Stephen Silver. Owned by Disney. Used without permission.

Kiyone Makabi was created by Naoko Hasegawa and owned by AIC and Pioneer LDC, inc. Used without permission.

Joan, Rob, and Sally (formally Susan) created by Mitch

NOTE: Thanks to the Kim Possible staff and video game developers for unknowingly inspiring the weapons in this chapter.

Space Detective Kiyone Makabi surprised herself while eating her slice of cheesecake. She expected to be engulfing it like she would at home. Instead, she found herself taking little nibbles of it from time to time. This behavior may have been due to the fact that she was far from home and didn’t have as many duties on her mind as usual. Two of the other girls she was sitting with were having more cake than her, but at a steady pace. The third, and youngest, was having some shortcake made by her man. These three probably didn’t have a lot on their minds right now either.

That, and it may have had something to do with their new loves.

Kiyone felt almost like the “middle-child” here. Kim Possible was 17 while the Turanga Leelas of two different realities were likely to be about 30 (although they clamed to be closer to the age of the two Philip Frys). Kiyone was 23 and modestly aware of her skills as an officer of a galactic police force back in her home universe. Well, maybe she wasn’t that modest.

Anyway, the other girls were having small talk about their unusual lives. They were having cheesecake prepared by their mysterious “rescuer” Joan, with the exception of Kim, who was having the aftermentioned shortcake prepared by her boyfriend Ron Stoppable. It was more like a casual conversation than a series of boasting. She kept hearing things about Leela and Kim’s skills and accomplishments which, even compared to her own unusual career, made her feel “unsung”. These women had saved the world and even the universe a few times, while she had helped her friends save the Milky Way galaxy a couple of times.

“So, Kim,” asked the Armored Leela, “they say that you go by the slogan, ‘I can do anything’? Isn’t that sort of egotistical?”

“I would say ‘dangerously vague’,” mumbled Kim while taking bites of shortcake, “back in middle school, I put that slogan on my website in hopes for getting odd jobs. I ended up being asked to recover secret formulas, plans, and stuff. I wasn’t out to fight crime. In fact, I only fought out of self-defense for a while.”

“But history records say you were the bane of super villains of your time,” stated Captain Leela, “are you saying that was an accident or something?”

“Sort of,” Kim explained, “Shego stole this disk and I was asked to return it. Things snowballed from there. I planned to just get the disk and let the authorities deal with her and her boss, Dr. Drakken, but things didn‘t quite work out that way.”

“Wasn’t ‘super-villainy’ starting to become the rage for the criminal world at the time?” asked Captain Leela, right before taking her own bite of cheesecake.

“You could say that. That‘s probably why I kept running into them, particularly new ones,” explained Kim, “my point is that when you cross paths with a villain, they tend to hold a grudge, so it became sort-of a private war with each of them after that.”

“So, do you work for this ‘Global Justice Network’ you‘ve been bringing up?” asked Kiyone, who was probably the most mentally lost person at the table, being from a universe that still had a basically similar Earth, but with multiple different details than the others’.

“No,” explained Kim, “that’s common belief, but I’m still more of a volunteer.”

“So, ‘Kiyone’ is it?” asked the Armored Leela to the detective, “they say you’re a space cop. You must have some exciting stories.”

Kiyone felt uneasy. This was a subject she had hoped to avoid.

“Well,” she explained, “I’ve helped my friends stop a few powerful criminals, but Kim has probably fought more crime on a regular basis than I have.”

“But you’re a police detective, aren’t you?” asked Kim.

“I’m supposed to be, but I’m…well, more of a beat cop for Earth‘s solar system.”

As they walked through the hallway, they passed a room where the boys (besides the two Benders) were hanging out. The door was shut, but they heard enough to get the idea.

“So, I guess I started to realize a little late that when you’re in love you have to put her needs before your own,” said Fry’s voice.

“Same here,” said Ron from behind the door, “but I guess I had a lifetime of friendship to help me see that.”

Kiyone smiled. Finding a guy wasn’t even too high on her list of priorities, but she was happy with who the girls wound up with.

“You girls are so lucky,” whispered Kiyone to Leela.

“Thanks,” said Leela, “I just wish it didn’t take me so long to figure out how lucky I was. Well, I thought I was lucky to have Fry as a friend and I didn’t know how lucky I really was until he saved me a couple of times.”

“I think it’s pretty obvious how much he cares for you.”

“Yeah,” agreed Leela, sounding a bit sheepish, “but I thought it was just a crazy crush. Heck, I’ve had that sort of feeling often myself when I was younger except I grew out of it…mostly.”

Just then, the lights flickered.

“I know I came here late,” said Kiyone, “but has that happened before?”

“No,” answered Leela, sounding puzzled, “the lights have been working fine until now.”

Also, a clicking sound was heard from the closed door to the room the boys were in.

“Something’s up,” said Kiyone, instinctively feeling alert and rushing back to the door.

They soon heard a frantic knocking coming from behind the boys’ door.

“Leela? Kim? Kiyone? Anyone?” called Fry’s voice.

“Fry!” called Leela, “what is it?”

“We’re locked in here! What happened?”

“I’m not sure…,” admitted Leela, “It may be just a system failure.”

“I doubt it; I’ll check on the girls,” said Kiyone as she rushed off to the room where they left Kim and the Armored Leela.

When she reached the door of the room of Kim and the other Leela, Kiyone heard some banging from the other side of the door. She had an idea why.

“‘Armored’ Leela? Are you banging the door?” asked Kiyone.

“Yeah, we’re stuck in here!” said the other Leela’s muffled voice, indicating that she had her previously collapsed armor and helmet on.

“So are the boys, apparently. I’m guessing that the kids and the robots are stuck in their room,” explained Kiyone, “and I once overheard Joan say that the doors made of an alloy that even the powers of your friends couldn’t penetrate.”

“You should find Joan,” suggested Kim, “she’s still in the engine room last I saw her.”

“Okay,” said Kiyone, “we’ll get to you when we can.”

Kiyone rushed down the hall and found Captain Leela.

“Same trouble with the girls?” asked Leela.

“Yeah. I’d say it’s down to us, captain.”

“I checked on Sally and the Benders. They’re watching the twins in their room,” said Leela, “If Joan is stuck like the others, then it really is up to us.”

Kiyone nodded in understanding, being in a few similar situations before, and they rushed to the engine room. They door was shut, which was the first sign of something being wrong; Joan had been working in the open to this point.

“Joan,” called Leela, “can you hear me?”

“Leela?” called the voice of their rescuer from the other side, “I can hear you, but Rob and I are trapped in here! How are the others?”

“Fine,” explained Kiyone, “but also trapped. Leela and I are the only ones free. Any ideas about what’s going on?”

“It probably has to do with the computers on the bridge,” explained Joan, “you’ll have to get there. I’ll send Rob through the duct system. He’ll meet you halfway through.”

Soon, delivery ship captain, Turanga Leela, along with expert galactic detective, Kiyone Makabi, and a bionic hairless mole rat, Rob, where on their way to the control room of the New Frontier. There was no resistance as they headed there; this worried Kiyone.

She also wondered about how well a partner Leela would be. From what she heard, Leela had done some exceptional work, but somewhat reluctantly. She tried to accept it since Leela was a civilian after all, but still…

“Here,” said Kiyone, tossing Leela her standard GP blaster, “I got this back from Joan, she said that the energy in it wasn’t capable for the engines.”

Leela sighed, looked at Kiyone, she did just trust her gun and her life to her took off her wrist communicator, and to gave it to her.

“If there’s something wrong with the computers,” Leela explained, “you can interface them with this.”

“Isn’t that an unlikely coincidence for computers a millennium apart to be compatible?”

“Does it make less sense than anything else around here? Good luck.”

“Thanks,” said Kiyone, “you too.”

As Kiyone entered the room, she wondered how the robots and the twins were doing.

Bender was having some trouble grasping the positive side of the situation. Although he was trapped in a room with a beautiful fembot, there were three things keeping him from having the time of his artificial life: Two of those were the twins she was busy protecting and the other was the Bend, that other universe’s Bender with enhanced strength, that had the same idea as him.

However, the fembot, whom he was still certain was “giving him the optic” now and then, didn’t seem that anxious for some interfacing, which seemed improbable to him. Robots were generally into free lust, but Sally here seemed to be an exception.

What was really weird was that he was starting to…respect her for that. It was as if there was some emotion reaching to him from some other time and place…or maybe it was some glitch in his emotion emulator.

He was also feeling, somewhat surprisingly, some sympathy for the Bend. The guy was moving extremely slow. Bender probably felt for him because he was another “him”, and Bender’s favorite ‘bot had always been himself.

“Say, Benders,” Sally suddenly asked, “would you help me out here?”

“Sure thing!” they both called enthusiastically.

“Could you help me entertain the twins?” Sally elaborated, “they love playing ‘robo-cake’.”

“Woah! Lady, even I wouldn’t do that with a kid…!”

“I meant the other kind of ‘robo-cake’!”

“Oh, that one. Okay.”

The Bend sat down to play with Fry, jr. while Bender prepared to play with (two-eyed) Leela, jr.

“Okay, L.J., here we go,” said Bender, “you know the basics and the rhymes, right?”

“You taught me, Unca Bender,” answered the reality-displaced child.

“Uh, okay. Here we go: robo-cake, robo-cake, made from beer cans, bake me a robo-cake, in an oily-pan…”

“Lather it and cut it with a capital ‘B’, put it in an insti-oven for F.J. and me!” finished L.J.

The two of them were doing the clapping in the expected pattern. Bender felt appreciation and affection for the little Leela in front of him. Maybe it because this Leela wasn’t commanding him to gather up Dark Matter fuel or fix the hover-dollies. This kid was kind of sweet.

He only rarely saw himself as a “uncle”, partially because he didn’t figure his own Fry and Leela would get that far. Now, he wasn’t so sure he wouldn‘t have that (honorary) title. Why was “love” so vital for human reproduction anyway?

His thought process was interrupted by L.J., who was suddenly hugging him.

“I love you Unca Bender,” she said, “you’re funny.”

This struck a circuit in him. He wasn’t used to being loved.

“And…I…like you, kid,” he found himself saying.

Looking at his counterpart, who was in a similar bind with the other child, he could tell the same was true with that other small meat bag.

With the door closing behind them, Kiyone, with Rob on her shoulder, cautiously entered the control room, but found no one in sight.

“Identify yourselves, you three!” Kiyone demanded to the identical view screens, just before Leela‘s troubles were starting on the other side of the door.

“I am Bebe,” answered one screen.

“I am Bebe,” answered a second screen.

“I am Bebe,” answered the third screen.

“Maybe I should be asking ‘what are you’?” observed Kiyone out loud.

“We were originally built as robots by Kim Possible’s enemy, Dr Drakken,” began Bebe One.

“We became a computer virus over time and eventually infiltrated Joan’s computer system,” continued Bebe

Two.

“We were fortunate to have captured the ones called ‘Fry’, ‘Leela’, and ‘Bender’, other former foes, here as well,” explained Bebe Three.

“Now,” they said simultaneously, “we will destroy all our enemies!”

Great, thought Kiyone, I’m a victim of guilt by association.

Robotic arms came from slots in each direction and grabbed Kiyone’s own appendages.

“What are you doing?” Kiyone demanded to know.

“Nothing. Merely…,”

“Activating the ship’s…,”

“Security systems.”

“Security systems?” wondered Kiyone out loud. She didn’t know there were any on this ship; Joan hadn’t used them. Kiyone then heard some blasting and other noises from the shut door behind her…the door that Leela was behind!

“We also activated the systems beyond this chamber,” explained the Bebes at once.

“Apparently,” Kiyone whispered bitterly.

Leela was about to black out. She needed to disable that sonic device. The noise deafened her, but she had also been deafened not long ago. Although she didn’t like it then (and was glad her hearing returned soon after that), she felt like she could at least now withstand the initial pain of losing her hearing again. She crawled to the machine, hoping to find a weak spot. She found a small sealed panel, but it was hard to quickly open by hand.

Time to put this gun to better use, she thought.

She switched on the safety and banged the butt of her gun on the panel. The panel finally opened and she saw a small lever.

Let’s see if that does what I hope it does, she thought as she pulled it.

Despite the danger that Leela must have been in, Kiyone was trying to keep cool. Her anger was boiling, but it wouldn’t do much good right now. She still wished she could have been thinking faster, though. There must have been a way out she hadn’t thought of!

The humming she heard from outside was dying down.

“Circuit breaker activated,” said Bebe One.

“Sonic mine powering down,” continued Bebe Two.

“Enemy Leela free,” followed Bebe Three.

Kiyone felt relieved for Leela…

“Must eliminate immediate threat,” said all three images.

But not so much for herself.

“I guess this is it,” said Kiyone, “sorry to drag you into this, Rob…Rob?”

Kiyone noticed that the cyber mole rat was no longer on her shoulder. She couldn’t really blame him, but where did he go?

“Available weapons insufficient,” said Bebe One.

“They possess no lethal capabilities!” announced Bebe Two.

“One weapon left and likely lethal!” said Bebe Three.

“Activating ‘last-resort’ weapon!” announced the Bebes.

Lowering from an opening from the ceiling was a device that resembled a bug zapper. Weird housing for a lethal defense, thought Kiyone. She shut her eyes. bracing herself for whatever it would do.

BZZT!!!

When Kiyone opened her eyes, she saw a fading light from the machine. The Bebes, although otherwise emotionless, looked on, slack jawed.

“That device…,” began Bebe One.

“Was merely a…,” continued Bebe Two.

“Flash stun weapon?” finished Bebe Three.

All three sounded as surprised as Kiyone, who was now smiling. She wasn’t always into non-lethal weapons (she figured that they weren’t intimidating enough), but she was thankful for them in this case. Now, if she could only get loose…

Just then, the cables holding her loosened. I don’t know what did that, she thought, but I can’t complain.

Kiyone landed on her feat and plugged Leela’s wristband into the terminal.

“Looks like you virus-ladies were a little too distracted,” said Kiyone as she activated an anti-virus into the systems.

The Bebe images began to flicker away, although it looked like they were struggling to stay on-line.

“You are incorrect, we did not control your bindings!”

“The cables were…,”

“Automatic!”

Automatic? wondered Kiyone, then how did I escape?

Then, she saw Rob sticking his head from a clawed open section of the control panel. Several chewed up wires stuck out from it.

“Don’t worry,” said Leela, obviously reading the shocked expression on Kiyone’s face, “it’s not as bad as the last time. I think I’ll recover.”

Kiyone faced Leela. Although her speech was partly telepathic, it needed similar contact as regular speech. She wanted Leela to read her lips. Although her lips never matched her words in English, Leela would hear her thoughts if she saw them moving.

“I’ll take you to the sick bay and round up the others,” said Kiyone.

“Sounds good,” said Leela, smiling grimly.

Kiyone bowed mid-way; she usually bowed part-way to strangers, but they were hardly strangers now.

“Leela…, er, Captain, thanks for taking such a blow for me,” said Kiyone when she saw Leela face-to-face again.

“I’m used to it,” said Leela, in a slightly flat tone of voice, “sorry for doubting you earlier. I guess I’m used to less efficient law officers.”

“Ouch,” said Kiyone, a little hurt by Leela’s initial doubts, but understanding, “it’s okay. I’ve faced some superiors and fellow officers that I’m not sure I would address as ‘peers’, You’d make a better example of a fellow officer.”

“Wow,” said a blushing Leela, “thanks, but I think I’m happy where I am. Back home, I mean.”